NASHVILLE, October 21, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – It's all-too-rare when a viral video doesn't scandalize its viewers, let alone builds up a culture of life and faith. Thankfully, millions of people have seen the YouTube recording of Randy Travis singing "Amazing Grace" as he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday.

The video itself is something of a miracle, since it shows Travis praising God three years after a massive stroke nearly claimed his life. But the moment almost never happened.

In March his wife, Mary Davis-Travis, revealed how close Travis' doctors came to convincing her to end his life. “They really said, 'There was no hope; go ahead and pull the plug,'" she toldUs magazine.

"I went to his bedside, and I said, ‘Baby, you’ve got to give me some more fight,'" she continued. "And I knew that he had had a little talk with Jesus, because he squeezed my hand, and a little tear fell. And I knew that he wasn't through yet."

On Sunday, he lived to sing another day, as his colleagues honored him with the lifetime award.

His debut LP, Storms of Life, became the first album in the history of country music to sell multi-platinum. The next year, his number one single "Forever and Ever, Amen" won him the first of his six Grammys. After country music drifted back toward a more contemporary sound in the mid-1990s, Travis – a former rowdy carouser – began celebrating his born again Christian faith by recording Gospel music. By any career metric, his induction into the hall of fame was well deserved. Thirty years ago, a 27-year-old newcomer from North Carolina helped change the direction of country music, away from the "Urban Cowboy" era of Kenny Rogers-style country pop to a more traditional country sound.

Then came a relapse, and his near-fatal stroke.

But Travis, and Jesus, had the last laugh. The singer's wife told the crowd on Sunday, "Today, God's proof of a miracle stands before you."

Her steadfastness, and a healthy dose of amazing grace, guided him through the storms of life.

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Ben Johnson is U.S. Bureau Chief of LifeSiteNews.com. The author of three books, Ben was Managing Editor of FrontPage Magazine from 2003-10. He is also a regular guest on the AFR Talk network's "Nothing But Truth with Crane Durham."